Erik Keller
Articles
Erik Keller: So long, and thanks for the fish
This, the December issue, marks my last column. So rather than spend the next 500 words telling you why—and no, MBT didn't fire me—I'd like to reflect on what things have changed, and what things have remained the same, over the 25-plus years I have been part of the IT industry. The same: We're not learning from the past.
Erik Keller: Fall cleanup time: Step one is software maintenance
As SAP and Oracle go toe-to-toe in court over alleged intellectual property misappropriations via the SAP-subsidiary TomorrowNow, I think it's a good time to review the four main levers that buyers should use when negotiating maintenance payments with software vendors. Maintenance renegotiation. Though many software vendors state that their maintenances charges are fair and just, it is hard for...
Erik Keller: IT market shift: Choose your side and place your bet
The general consensus is the software market is in the middle of a massive shift. But there is no consensus as to the direction of that shift. Rather, there are two divergent views. One extreme espouses that the market is consolidating to a handful of mega-vendors, such as SAP, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft.